<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0CABen_0wNLMV6E00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0CABen_0wNLMV6E00" width="1200" height="800" ><figcaption>Karen Lee</figcaption></figure>As you take the court for the first time, you see the crowd around you. This is the first volleyball game you’ve ever played, but you’re not alone. Most of your teammates have never played in an official game before either. You are part of Jefferson’s first boys volleyball team, so there will be a lot of firsts this season. Growing interestJefferson’s boys volleyball team, a sport that Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) just added this school year, started practices a week before the beginning of the school year.“It’s been growing [and] it’s a high school sport in other parts of Virginia. I think that idea has always been out there,” boys volleyball coach Adam Fano said. “We had plenty of kids emailing us all summer. There were almost 50 kids showing up at tryouts with almost no information coming from the school or us.”As students learned about tryouts for the boys volleyball team, groups of friends tried out and spread the news through social media and conversations.“Friend groups talk to each other, so they get the whole group to try out,” senior co-captain Jason Park said. “I did have friends who were already going, so that’s the reason why I wanted to [try out]–because of my friends.”Unlike the girls volleyball team, where players often start at a younger age, the boys team has fewer experienced players.“[Most of us] don’t have prior experience. It’s a new sport for most of the guys,” sophomore setter and right side player Tony Wang said. “One of the struggles is [that] we don’t know the fundamentals of the game yet. It’s a little difficult to play.”However, there has been a rising interest for boys volleyball in the past few years, such as volleyball 8th periods. Though there were people who attended these practices, they were not very consistent.“I played a little bit just for fun [in] freshman year, but then it [stopped] and I just really wanted to play,” senior co-captain Leonardo Valli said. “There was no opportunity because there was no school team until this year.”The first gameThe boys volleyball team had their first-ever game on Aug. 27 against Thomas Edison High School, which Jefferson won with a score of 3-1.“It was the first actual game of boys volleyball in the school’s history, and we won. So, I can’t ask for much more than that,” Fano said. “Hopefully, we can keep getting those [wins] and keep playing well for the rest of the season.”With after school practices nearly every day, members of the team often warm up immediately after school. During practices, they do new drills to improve their skills and scrimmages, which are mock games, to prepare.“We had two good scrimmages before [the first game], and we had about three weeks of practices,” Fano said. “So, I think we put them in a good situation to get everybody prepared. They showed up [to the game], and they really performed.”<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0SU0dJ_0wNLMV6E00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0SU0dJ_0wNLMV6E00" width="2001" height="1334" ><figcaption>Junior Darwin Goldstein practices volleyball before practice starts. “It’s been good to see them starting from the ground up about what volleyball is,” boys volleyball coach Adam Fano said. “Getting to see [the team] get better, and I’m sure I’ll get to see them get a lot better as the season goes on.” ( Karen Lee )</figcaption></figure>Future of the teamWith more interest among students, Wang hopes to make boys volleyball a more popular and well-known sport for students.“It’s really fun, [but] we don’t have any events. [So, I hope we can] build up more events like all the other sports or make it popular like the other sports,” Wang said.Additionally, there is only a varsity boys volleyball team, unlike the girls teams, which have a freshman and junior varsity team. The team and coaches are hoping to form a JV and freshman team in the future.“The coaches weren’t sure we’d have enough people to make a JV and freshman team,” Valli said. “Maybe in the next few years as the sport starts to get a little more popular, people will start joining, especially if incoming freshmen play the sport, too.”From the October 2024 Issue of tjTODAY</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Students create new boys varsity volleyball team after rising interest

As you take the court for the first time, you see the crowd around you. This is the first volleyball game you’ve ever played, but you’re not alone. Most of your teammates have never played in an official game before either. You are part of Jefferson’s first boys volleyball team, so there will be a lot of firsts this season.